Come with me as I travel to St. Francisville, LA and cross off one of my bucket list destinations…The Myrtles Plantation. For decades, this beautiful plantation home has carried a reputation as one of the most haunted homes in America. Whether you believe in the paranormal or not, the interesting history, beautiful scenery and Southern hospitality might just inspire you to add The Myrtles to your bucket list as well.
This episode of the Fort NOT Lost in the Woods Podcast is sponsored by Security Bank of Pulaski County, TK’s Pizza of St. Robert, Nexthome Team Ellis and Sugarcreek Farm. The Fort NOT Lost in the Woods Podcast is an O’Quinn Media Production
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**Introduction to the Myrtle’s Plantation**
Thank you for joining me for another episode of the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast. As most of you know, this podcast focuses on the Pulaski County, Missouri area, including our neighboring counties as well as a few day trip destinations along the way. So far, I have not done an episode featuring a destination that is more than a few hours drive until today’s episode.
As many of you know, I’m fascinated with things that we humans cannot explain. I mean, I love that in this day and age, there are still so many mysterious places and occurrences that we just simply cannot explain. Several years ago, I heard about one of those places. It’s called The Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana. Well, after learning about The Myrtles’ long and storied history, I knew it was one of those bucket list places, somewhere I just had to visit someday.
So, in April, it was my birthday gift to myself to visit, and it did not disappoint. The Myrtles is a fascinating place, not just because of its paranormal occurrences, but because of the plantation’s history. I won’t get into all the history in depth in this episode, there’s just so much to talk about, it really deserves its own longer episode, maybe even a series. But in the future, I would like to do a longer episode that dives into all of that. You know, maybe around, I don’t know, Halloween time. I also have hours of audio and video recordings that I have yet to comb through, um, looking for unexplainable phenomena or just anything interesting. So, definitely planning a follow-up episode on The Myrtles after I have a chance to go through all of that footage.
However, I can tell you in the time that my husband and I spent at The Myrtles in April, we both experienced some interesting things. It was one of the most active and fun places, rumored to be paranormal, that I have ever visited, and I can’t wait to go back. Now, my husband, not so much, says he’s never going again. Paranormal is definitely not his thing. But for now, let me take you into the moss-covered back roads of Louisiana. We’re going to explore one of the South’s most fascinating and controversial landmarks: The Myrtles Plantation.
So, built in 1796 by General David Bradford, the plantation originally carried the name Laurel Grove, and it quickly became part of the complicated and often painful history of the American South. Over the years, the property passed through several families, survived war, disease, tragedy and the changing tides of history, all while standing quietly beneath the giant oaks. They are so beautiful. Of St. Francisville.
Now, like many plantations of its time, its story is deeply connected to slavery and the lives of the enslaved people who lived and worked there. But history alone isn’t what made The Myrtles famous. For decades, the plantation has carried the reputation of being one of the most haunted homes in America. Stories of mysterious mirrors. Now, I didn’t have anything weird happen with the mirror, but a lot of people do. Shadowy figures, unexplained footsteps. Oh, there were a lot of those. And the legendary spirit known as Chloe.
Now, I’m not so sure I believe in the whole thing with Chloe. We’ll get into that in future episodes. I think it’s kind of more just like a legend that may or may not have some roots. I don’t know. We’ll get into that more later, but there’s been plenty of television specials and countless late night conversations all about The Myrtles. Some visitors swear they’ve experienced something paranormal inside the house, while others just believe the legends have just grown larger with time. I’m kind of in the middle of those two things, I think.
But whether you believe in ghosts or not, there’s no denying that The Myrtles Plantation sits at the crossroads of Southern history, folklore, tragedy, mystery, and we’re going to talk about all of it in a future episode. Today we’re going to dabble in it just a little bit. When we come back, I’ll have my interview that I did with Cassie. We sat right on the front porch of The Myrtles and talked about all kinds of things. And I asked her, “Have you had any experiences here?” She told me about a couple, but off the air, I heard about so many more.
Look into The Myrtles Plantation after you listen to this episode. It may be a trip you want to take. We’ll be right back as we go off the beaten path on the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast.
**Commercial Break**
**Interview with Cassie**
Marv: All right, can you introduce yourself and tell me your title?
Cassie: My name is Cassie and I am one of the managers here at The Myrtles. I did start off as a tour guide but have worked my way up to management.
Marv: So how long have you been here?
Cassie: Almost four years in September.
Marv: Okay. Well, Cassie and I are sitting on, I don’t know, do you call this the veranda or the porch or what do you call this?
Cassie: We call this the back porch.
Marv: Yeah, we’re sitting on the back porch of this beautiful home, uh, plantation home in Louisiana, St. Francisville, Louisiana. It’s called The Myrtles. And I first heard about The Myrtles several years ago on a podcast that I listened to, which was actually about haunted things, but what I found super interesting about it was not just, you know, whether or not there are ghosts here, but also the history part of it. And you and I were talking a little bit, you were saying that you’re from Oklahoma and you came here and now you’re here managing it. That’s so crazy. So how long, or or have you ever, I guess I should start with that, had any kind of experience as far as paranormal here at this place?
Cassie: Oh my gosh, yes. So the first day that I started working here.
Marv: The first day?
Cassie: Yes. Yes. Oh my gosh. It wasn’t even like long after I started working here that day, um, it was me and two other tour guides. We were inside the gift shop and they were showing me a few little things and then all of a sudden, we just heard like this blood curdling scream coming from the courtyard, right out here. And we rushed out here because we immediately thought that someone got hurt. And when we came out, there was not a soul out here. And I’m like, oh my God, I am home.
Marv: That is amazing. So you believed in paranormal stuff before you came here?
Cassie: Absolutely. Absolutely. I’ve always been drawn to it.
Marv: You know, I know not everyone believes in it and I get it. I really do because I was kind of back and forth for years until I had enough things happen to me that were not explainable that it’s like, you know, once it happens to you and you’ve went through your head about any other explanation and you’ve tried to rule out everything.
Cassie: Yeah.
Marv: You can’t deny it anymore. So I always thought The Myrtles was so neat and this place does go back to what, 1796?
Cassie: Actually, it starts in 1794 when Mr. Bradford arrived here to the area after running from Western Pennsylvania due to his involvement with the Whiskey Rebellion. So, um, this area at the time was still being occupied by Spanish, um, influence. So he got here and this was literally a perfect hideout for an American outlaw, is I like to say it. And he became such good friends with the Spaniards in the area, they gave him a land grant. And that land grant got him this beautiful piece of property.
Marv: I wondered about that. Okay, because I I saw the sign at the front of the property says that it was obtained with a a Spanish land grant. And I thought, well, I wonder how that happened, but that makes sense now. That is so long ago, it’s hard to even imagine what this place looked like back then. I I can’t imagine.
Cassie: Mhm.
Marv: Wow. Cuz it it’s really very close to a highway and but yet it’s so quiet and just you feel like you’re in another world when you’re here.
Cassie: Absolutely. You just feel like that you are just secluded from the outside world. You really don’t even realize that you’re part of this world because you’re so intrigued with what’s going on here on the property. Whether it is the animals or whether it is just being intrigued by the beauty of the property itself, or better yet, you’re just trying to find your nice little ghost to hang out with.
Marv: Right. Yeah, correct. Yeah, even if you’re not even if you’re not into paranormal, this is just such a beautiful place. How would you in fact, it removing the paranormal part of it. If someone said, okay, what is The Myrtles and why should I visit? I mean, what is your short answer to that? How do you explain the property and the house and the place in general?
Cassie: So, here at The Myrtles, we do have several areas that you can come stay the night in. And when I talk to our guests on the phone, I try to get them to get into the main house or out in the cottages because there’s really no electronics. And this is the perfect opportunity for people to just unplug and just to reconnect back with nature. And here on the property, we not only have these beautiful crepe myrtles and the oak trees and all, but we also have farm life here. That is just so wonderful to watch and to play with. It’s just, it’s amazing.
Marv: Yes. We’re we’re staying in the Woodruff Suite, and it’s absolutely gorgeous and we love it. But it was so funny because our first night here we’re like, all right, do you wanna and we’d already been in the room. We’d been there for hours. But we had not realized there was no TV. And until it was time to go to bed, and that’s our thing is we always turn the TV on, put on the sleep timer and go to sleep. And then it was like, oh, there’s no TV. And at first it was like, uh-oh, what are we going to do? But then it was just cool. It was just nice. It was it’s just different like you said, you feel like you’re just stepping away from that hectic crazy life that we all normally live.
Cassie: Mhm.
Cassie: And we need a little, we we do need to take a little break.
Marv: Absolutely.
Cassie: We absolutely need to. And this, this area, this little property is the perfect place to do so.
Marv: What are some of the craziest ghost stories? Well, and let let’s put it this way. Um, ghost stories that you believe because you know, people tell you stories and you’re like, okay, this person seems a little out there. But then people tell you stories and you think this is the type of person that’s not making this up or you can see by the look on their face. So what are some of the best or craziest stories that you’ve heard during your time here?
Cassie: So, I’ve actually had it, um, when we’ve had guests come and stay the night with us, they have an issue with sometimes the spirit children in the house. They like to remove things from our guests and kind of hide them throughout the room. We had a couple that came and stayed with us one time and they started off in the Bradford Suite and then they moved off into the winter room. But they couldn’t find their wallet and it kept dinging that their wallet was up in the winter room and we kept looking and looking, couldn’t find it. No, it was actually in the Bradford Suite tucked away underneath the curtain area.
Marv: Oh, someplace they would have never put it.
Cassie: Mhm. Absolutely. These kids love to play pranks. They love to untie our shoes when we’re not paying attention. That’s why I wear boots.
Marv: Oh, really?
Cassie: Um, but the main thing that I’ve actually heard like people talk about is the kids in the house. The kids love to jump on the beds when our guests are trying to fall asleep. And for our housekeepers, our poor housekeepers here, they work so hard trying to get these rooms to that perfect immaculate state that when we go up there to check them after the housekeepers are done, the beds look like someone has jumped on them.
Marv: Really?
Cassie: And I’m like, did y’all clean? They’re like, yeah, we did. So after a while we started taking pictures like before and then when we go up there, we’re like, all right, we we see that it was clean, but it looks like there’s little footprints and handprints all over the bed. I’m going to have to redo it.
Marv: Yeah. So that was kind of leads me to my next question. I’ve noticed there are quite a few cameras on the property. Does anyone ever review this to see if there is any kind of haunted activity and if so, have you caught anything?
Cassie: There was actually one incident that I do recall. I came to open up the house one morning. It had been storming all night long, and when I walked into the house, the main front door was open, like wide open. And I’m like, oh my gosh. So I started checking the house, make sure everything was good. And then as soon as my boss got here, I asked him I was like, can you roll back the camera? He did. The door just slowly opened up. And I’m like, someone was trying to get in. They wanted to get in out of the storm.
Marv: Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah. And that’s not like that that door is normally just for employees, right? Is that the one you’re talking about that front door?
Cassie: Yes, ma’am.
Marv: Wow.
Cassie: Yes, ma’am. And then there’s a there’s a headpiece that’s in the foyer. It was actually in front of the mirror one day and there’s a YouTube video on it right now. Um, we had a boat group just like what we have today, going through the house for a small little tour. And our tour guide was explaining the dining room situation and he opened up the door, the guests started walking in front of the haunted mirror, way away from it, cuz some of them are a little spooked out about it. But as soon as they started walking into the formal dining room, all of a sudden, this headpiece, which was two pieces, by the way. The top part slipped off, hit the mirror, and then literally just slid down and landed on the floor and put two dents in the floor.
Marv: Oh my gosh.
Cassie: No one touched it. No one was even close enough to the desk to make it even fall off.
Marv: Crazy. That is so crazy. There’s just story after story and I’ll be sharing more of those with you, um, in this podcast. So we won’t take up your time to do that because I know that you have a busy day today. You’re going to be leaving to go do some personal stuff here in a little while. So thank you for taking time to sit down with me. You mentioned before we do go though, you mentioned some uh, livestock or farm animals. Um, and I know that you recently, we’re lucky enough that we were somewhere yesterday and somebody said, where are you all staying? And we said, oh, we’re staying over at The Myrtles. Well, have you met Ivan?
Cassie: Yeah.
Marv: Yes. You want to explain who Ivan is?
Cassie: Ivan is our new local resident here on the property. He is a year and a half old male turkey that we acquired from some friends, um, of the property owners here. He has been a complete precious treasure here. And within three days of him being here, he actually got a five-star review.
Marv: He’s very, very friendly.
Cassie: And then later he got another review and I’m like, oh my gosh. This turkey is getting more reviews than my tour guides are.
Marv: He’s very, very friendly.
Cassie: He is very friendly.
Marv: You also have some other critters on the property.
Cassie: We do. We have some chickens and one of our chickens is our favorite, her name is Susan. She’s the black speckled one. She will literally let you pick her up and just kind of carry her around like a little kitten.
Marv: Oh, that’s so sweet. And I’ve noticed some beautiful ducks. They were following us around last night.
Cassie: Yes, we have some beautiful mallards here on the property. And we also have down at the very beginning of our uh, property, we have a goat barn and there is mom and dad, which by the name, their names are Bo Bradley and Reba. But the kids’ names are Dolly and Cash. They were born on September 28th.
Marv: Oh, how cute is that. Oh, that’s so sweet.
Cassie: We weren’t even expecting twins. We were only expecting one kid.
Marv: And you have a really nice, well I would call it a garden area, but it’s actually even bigger than that. Um, do you, I know you’re doing working on doing farm to table kind of stuff here.
Cassie: Yes. Absolutely. Um, and with the chickens too, we actually use the eggs for our breakfast here on the restaurant.
Marv: Oh, that’s so cool.
Cassie: So literally farm to table and right now we are working on our garden trying to get that ready for the summertime. And once we get some produce out of that, not only will we be using it in the restaurant, we’ll also be using, um, the produce to sell in our farmer’s market.
Marv: That’s so cool. Okay, so before we go real quick, here at The Myrtles, um, you have the Elta coffee shop, which is delicious, wonderful. It’s like my dream come true to be able to wake up and walk outside and to a cozy little coffee shop with amazing coffee. You also have the restaurant, which is called Oh, it’s called Restaurant 1796. And we have not been able to try it yet, but um, we’re hoping to try that before we leave. And then also just lots of different types of accommodations. So, if people want to learn more about The Myrtles, how can they do that?
Cassie: Oh, it’s called Restaurant 1796.
Cassie: They can either go through our website, themyrtles.com, or they can just give us a call at area code 225-635-6277 to speak with one of us at the front desk.
Marv: And you know what I love about it, everyone here is so nice. Even though this place is kind of world renowned. I mean, just on the way here from Missouri, we started downloading podcasts and we didn’t even get through a tenth of the podcasts that are available. YouTube, television shows, all kinds of things. And but everyone here is just so laid back and nice and every single person I’ve said, so have you ever experienced anything, they’ll say, oh, yeah. I haven’t had one person roll their eyes or say no or you know, and you can tell they mean it. They’re not just instructed to say that. And that’s what’s so fun is everybody has their own stories. I love it.
Cassie: Yeah.
Marv: Yeah. I love it. Well, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.
Cassie: Absolutely. Absolutely. I enjoyed it. Thank you so much.
**Outro**
This episode of the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast is sponsored by Security Bank of Pulaski County. Next Home Team Ellis. TK’s Pizza and St. Robert. And Sugar Creek Farms, your home for farm fresh pork products. The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Oakhaven Media, its hosts, affiliates, or sponsors. Content is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. Thank you for listening.